How to reduce 12v dc to 5v dc

Question

Hello everyone,

I wrote a simple Arduino sketch to control 12 led lights in a pattern.

The led's will be mounted on my quadcopter.

The plan is to burn the sketch to an Attiny2213 micro controller mounted on a board along with the relay, transistors ect.

The problem is that the quad uses a 4s lipo(14.8v) battery.

Attiny2213 has a max of 5.5v.

I currently have a working model on the bread board with the led's using the 14.8v, and a 9v battery powering the Arduino.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of the 9v battery(weight reduction is the goal), and use only the lipo battery to power everything?

Thanks for your help.

Stan

Robert Peter Oakes · Accepted Answer

A small buck converter, this will be the most efficient for you and quite light, should only be a few $$ it will take you right to 5V, any linear LDO will simply burn up power as heat dropping the volts from 14 to 5 Regards Peter

johnbeetem · Answer

You probably want to use a DC-to-DC converter or "buck" switching regulator. These are a very efficient way to reduce a higher voltage to a well-regulated lower voltage. Member Robert Peter Oakes made some recommendations of easy-to-use modules on 27 April 2014 on this thread: http://www.element14.com/community/message/110535#110535 Update: I made this comment before seeing Peter's own comment 10 minutes earlier. Well, this way Peter doesn't have to try to track down the comment he made last April

Former Member · Answer

Thanks guys. Very helpful!